Kenny Limmer chats with other spectators as he watches a Cloquet-Esko-Carlton's boys hockey game against Bemidji at Northwoods Credit Union Arena. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

CLOQUET, MINN. – Year after year, decade after decade, a special group of committed friends gathers to watch high school hockey games.

When attending home games for the Cloquet Lumberjacks, people can easily spot them in the same seats, sitting next to each other, cheering on “The Purple.”

Their unwavering support earned them the title of “Legacy Group.” The friends — Donny Lamirande, Kenny Limmer and Dick Millen — routinely sit together in the offensive zone within the Northwoods Credit Union Arena.

They used to gather at “The Rail of Knowledge” at the arena, which became the “Old Crow’s Nest” when friend Freddie Anderson placed a crow decoy on the rail. Anderson, dealing with Alzheimer’s, no longer attends games, Lamirande said.

On this particular night, the Lumberjacks are playing host to Bemidji. Donny is wearing a worn Cloquet hockey baseball cap. Kenny is wearing a Cloquet-Esko-Carlton jacket. There’s a logo of a Lumberjack on his baseball cap. Dick, who has had some hearing loss, asks those around him to decipher the public announcer’s goal calls.

For more on the Legacy Group, click here to read this story on startribune.com.